The Mystical Crayons
by BOO-imawriter
Summary: As the crew continue their adventure in the New World, they pick up a couple of girls that were stranded out at sea. Who are they? What could they possibly be hiding? And what ensues after? I won't be pairing OCs, but there is LuNa.
1. Boredom

Hello, this is a OC-centric fic, however it also contains some LuNa  
>This was one of two prevailing ideas, this was just the easier one to start... :P<br>The title won't seem to match the fic, wait for my second chapter to explain that  
>Give me your honest views!<p>

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. Is that plain enough?

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><p>Two weeks.<p>

For any normal crew, two weeks of relaxation in the New World was a welcome thought. After all, as the last stretch before the elusive final island Raftel where One Piece is said to be left at, these breaks were welcome to any pirates that were looking for One Piece.

Of course, as luck would have it, this fate has befallen one of the most abnormal crews on the Grand Line, a certain crew with an assortment of the most talented in each of their classes with a straw hat bearing captain…

Dying of boredom was an understatement. The captain had officially run out of things to keep him occupied. Playing with Usopp and Chopper, trying to steal from the kitchen, listening to Brook's new melodies, bugging Zoro while he was training, bothering Robin while she was reading, or even barging into the observation room while it was known that Nami was in there, all of that became boring besides the last one which he obviously couldn't repeat. The rest of the crew was in a similar situation. Not that it was shown on either Zoro or Sanji considering that they were always busy training or cooking, but the rest were visibly bored as well. Usopp could be seen just lying on the grass without moving for hours right beside Luffy, who was doing the exact same thing instead of being on the head of Sunny. Brook's melodies were soothing and relaxing at first, now he was playing hard metal songs in hope that something would come their way. Chopper rearranged his cabinet for a record hundred times before joining Usopp and Luffy on the grass. Robin had reread every book in her collection six times before she started going out on deck to stare at the ocean while leaning onto the railing. And their orange-haired navigator, after finishing every single map that she could think of in the peace that was rare on the ship, joined Robin on deck. She spaced out so much at times that, once when Luffy asked for one of her tangerines she actually plucked one of its branch and tossed it to him, not realizing what she just did until Robin questioned her about it. Franky was nowhere to be seen. They assumed that he was working on a new project, but Luffy later found out that Franky was in the soldier dock system, test-trying all his creations over and over in his boredom. Safe to say, the entire crew was hoping for something to happen as they continued to travel on the sea that was supposed to be the most fearsome of them all.

This meant that, when Usopp spotted something floating out at sea, every single person of this crew rushed straight out on deck to see what it was.

'It' turned out to be two girls drifting in the sea on a plank of wood. Both were unconscious, dressed in a plain T-shirt and blue jeans, carrying a small pouch each. As Sanji and Brook started to go on in their erotic fantasies while Nami pummeled them for being 'irritating' and 'being pedophiles', Robin decided to start sketching the scene before her. Franky was observing them discreetly while pretending to fix another one of Usopp's curious inventions, as was Zoro, pretending to nap. Usopp was bragging about being the one that found them as Chopper tried, in vain, to stop the over-enthusiastic captain from poking his patients.

Then, just when Chopper decided to move the girls to the infirmary, one of them started to stir. As she sat up, she saw Luffy. She blinked before nearly toppling over in shock.

"You are… so you guys are…the Straw Hat pirates?"

"Ah!" Inevitably, Luffy was the first to respond. His face was of utmost excitement, hoping that the girls had brought along some sort of adventure along with them so that they could finally get out of this boring state…

"Can we join your crew?" "Sure!"

The rest of the crew went back to their different ways of passing the day. _Man, __it __was __just __another __person __trying __to __join __the __crew__…_ then, in complete symphony, the entire crew minus Robin turned back to the girl and Luffy with wide eyes as they realised what just happened.

"EHHH!"

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><p>So how was that? Give me your honest views!<p>

Thanks for reading!


	2. Sisters and Crayons?

Hi! Here's the next chapter!  
>Please give me your honest views! Happy Reading!<p>

Disclaimer: goes to first chapterhighlights disclaimerctrl ccomes back to this chapterctrl v

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><p>Their names: Selena and Hazel. They were sisters though neither of them seemed to be willing to admit it. When they were asked their surnames the said that they didn't know them; when asked where they were from they said they didn't know. They were now dressed in Nami's clothes as theirs were soaking wet. Selena was 16 while Hazel was 15, which meant that it was a source of irritation that Hazel was taller than her. They both only had their little pouches with them. They didn't seem to have any special skills and both weren't devil fruit users. They were apparently caught in a storm which destroyed their boat.<p>

"So, why do you want to join the crew?" Not that Nami was adverse to the idea of having more girls on the crew; rather she was a bit disgruntled that she would have to use her money to buy more stuff at the next island.

"Kyaa! His hair is so soft!" Okay there was another reason why she was rather irritated…

"Hazel is one of the heads of the official Luffy fan club…" Selena shook her head as she looked at her sister attempting to squeeze the Straw Hat captain's cheek as the rubberman tried to fend her off.

"What do you see in that idiot captain?" Sanji was crying despite the added female presences as Hazel was now attempting to climb onto Luffy.

"Shouldn't we stop her?" Usopp was watching as his captain was attempting to escape the hold of the girl that was clinging onto him.

"I don't particularly mind…" Since Hazel was wearing a plain T-shirt with a miniskirt, every time she jumped on Luffy, Brook got a great view. This action was stopped by Nami when she realised what he was staring at.

"Can you get your sister off of him?" After pummeling Brook to the ground, Nami had proceeded to consult the one person who should know what to do.

"Sh...sh...she's not my sister! Oi, Hazel, stop it or I'll throw you off this ship.

"As if you can do that!"

While Hazel continued to hug our dear captain with various people giving the pair death glares, Selena thought of something rather evil…

"If you don't get off him this instant, I'll tell him some of your little secrets… like the time when you were five…"

That got her attention straight away and Hazel practically jumped off him and pounced onto Selena.

"You wouldn't dare…" "What do you think?" Selena smirked as her sister seemed torn between cuddling the straw hat bearing captain and listening to her sister's threat. Not that she usually did that, but there were some extremely embarrassing moments that she had at that age…

"Okay, you got me. So now what?" Hazel got off her sister as she looked around, feeling a death glare that was sending chills down her spine as the cook of the ship attempted to destroy his captain who was behind the protection of the moss-haired swordsman.

"Could I ask you a question?"

Everyone besides the three fighting turned to Robin as she spoke. "How did the two of you survive in the New World? You don't seem to be carrying any weapons and you two don't seem exceptionally strong. Are you from nearby?"

"Nope, our hometown is far away from here! And to answer your first question... Selena…"

"Are you sure we should show them?"

"Just do it!"

Hazel and Selena reached into their small pouches and pulled out…

"A crayon?" The crew had voiced the same thing, now inclusive of the previously fighting trio, when the two sisters had produced the two crayons before their eyes.

"Just watch." Selena started drawing a square on the floor while Hazel was drawing in the same shape in the air. When they finished, they both faced each other and, as if drawing lines to join the two squares together, drew two lines each.

As their crayons touched the floor together, the space they drew onto suddenly glowed, blinding the crew as the bright light illuminated the deck. When the light dimmed, the crew turned back to see a cube made out of what seemed to be metal in the space where the imaginary cube was drawn.

"Oi! Hazel, you were an inch of the mark!"

"That's because your square was off by an inch!"

"What did you say? My square was perfect!"

"Awesome…"

"Huh?"

Both sisters turned to see half the crew looking at them with stunned faces, while the rest were looking at them with sparkling eyes.

"Awesome!"

"Hey, can you do it again?"

"Make meat this time! Make meat!"

While Luffy, Usopp and Chopper continued to bombard the two sisters with requests, Robin started thinking about the ability she had just seen.

_Where have I seen that before?_

The rest of the crew stood in shock, without a clue how to respond to the situation.

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><p>So how was it? Give me comments!<br>Does the crayon idea sound a bit lame? My sis was telling me that it was a lame idea...

Thanks for reading!


	3. Genoa

Here's the third chapter... I realised doing this chapter that this story hadn't been planned enough...  
>Genoa was a random name, I have no idea where I got it...<br>This story is being updated slowly, I'm sorry for that but I think the later parts would be more interesting (cause I actually had those planned nicely before realising that I didn't even plan my starting...)  
>Somehow, I feel that asking you to enjoy such a short and uneventful chapter is asking too much, so I won't.<p>

Disclaimer: Can I stop writing this? Guess not... I don't own One Piece

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><p>The crayons, apparently, were capable of making anything that they draw become real. There were a lot of guidelines, but it was such a unique and fantastic ability that none of the crew really was bothered by it. Although it was pointed out that the first one was a large enough restriction.<p>

"Only things that are symmetrical?" Luffy asked that for the sixth time in the last 5 minutes, either unable to understand it or disappointed that he won't be able to get free meat.

"Yup, only things that are symmetrical, just like the cube we made." Hazel, apparently relishing in the attention that the captain was giving her, repeated the statement for the sixth time. "Stuff that is asymmetrical we can't do, we also both have to visualise the exact same thing to make it. If our lines are a bit off the thing may transform into something else that we didn't think of."

"That sounds tough…" Sanji, having recovered from the shock of such an amazing power, was now listening in on the explanation of it, as was Brook, Usopp, Nami and Chopper. Robin had retreated to her collection of books; Franky was tinkering around with the box; Zoro was sleeping, almost completely uninterested.

"Not really. All we really have to do is think of something and draw it and it's done. For escaping, we usually draw a square on the ground and use the blinding light as cover." Selena continued her explanation, trying to ignore the looks her sister was giving the captain and the random death glares that were flying around.

"Hmmm… Doesn't that mean that you guys have to be really close? I mean, you guys have to think up the same thing at the same time and draw something of the same dimensions…" Nami started before she was cut off.

"There is no way I am close to her!" This sentence was yelled by both sisters at the same time, which was a cause of amusement for the listening crew. However, considering that the sisters were glaring at each other with hateful intensity, none of the crew on deck dared to make a comment.

Of course, this excludes the ever-innocent captain, and he falls to the floor laughing at the two sisters' antics, inciting the two girls to attack the captain in their rage. Nami could only watch as they pummeled him in style.

"This cube is amazing. Is this completely steel?" A comment from the shipwright brought the crew's attention back to the cube.

"It is. We can make anything within our restrictions, but the element that it is made of is something we have to decide." The answer came from Selena, who had left the beaten-up captain in the hands of a worried doctor and the suddenly-caring gaze of the other new girl.

"Isn't steel made up of different elements?" Franky immediately noticed that fact and, confused, questioned her.

"Technically it is, especially if you choose to observe it at its elemental components. However, our powers only require the basic structure of the thing we're making, so anything we both know, even if it actually is made up of lots of different elements, is still within the boundaries of our powers."

"I see," said Brook and Usopp, which incited Nami to yell back, "No you don't!"

"Then why not make a round piece of meat?" The captain had somehow recovered enough to speak, an impressive feat considering his face still resembled a gigantic swollen berry. It was what he said, however, that stunned the crew. Considering that he never really showed any sort of intelligence besides in battle, this was a somewhat momentous occasion.

"Err…because meat is inconsistent. We can't make the whole piece since it is made of different things at different places." Selena answered, seemingly unaware of the captain's apparently uncharacteristic display of intelligence, while her sister took the chance to jump him from behind and remark, "So you are sometimes intelligent."

"What's in-cor…in-con…in-con-sis-tant mean?" At this, the crew relaxed, apparently relieved that their captain seemed back to normal, while the captain continued to ask the girl at his shoulder about her powers.

"Oi, I see an island up ahead! It looks like there's a harbour!" Zoro had at some point ascended to the crow's nest and was yelling down to the crew on deck. Nami immediately started giving out orders as the entire crew looked out to the new island, hoping for an adventure when they got there.

-divider-

The island's name was Genoa; it was a heavily-forested island with a small trading post at its southern tip. The ship was docked at the port of that town and the townsfolk seemed friendly. This meant only one thing…

"To the forest!" The official verdict came from the adventure-starved captain as the part of the crew consisting of Usopp, Chopper, Brook and Zoro followed him to the great expanse of forest ahead of them. Tagging along was Hazel, who seemed ever more enthusiastic to follow the captain to his next adventure.

In the meantime, Sanji and Franky were replenishing the stocks that have been used up in the past two weeks. Considering that the captain had managed to increase his appetite in the 2 years they had not seen him, Sanji was frankly surprised that the food stocks have managed to survive. Nami went out with Selena to get new clothes for the two new female crew members (even though it was more of a captain's order that they joined rather then a general consensus). Robin, apparently, was still digging around in her collection, trying to find something that even her incredible memory seemed to find hard to place.

It was this way that the Straw Hat crew started their adventure on Genoa.

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><p>I think asking you "How was that" would be pushing it, so nevermind...maybe I'll ask that when I finally get my writing up and start producing longer chapters (word count for this chapter without the author's notes is 963, that's really short)<br>I think this fic will be delayed (not that I ever had a schedule to begin with) while I write other stuff... like that christmas fic that I was thinking of or something else...

Thanks for reading!


	4. Telepathy?

This intro is really long so if you don't want to read it, skip all the way down to below the line to start reading the story.

Well, first things first... I'M BACK!  
>Seriously, I stopped writing for like...2 months!<br>If you're wondering if you been away from it for too long, here's the 2 signs that will confirm it for you.  
>1. You find a specific area like maybe "Anime, One Piece, English, Luffy, Nami" and realise the ENTIRE first page is either new stories or have been updated more than thrice since you last saw it.<br>2. You check your doc manager and see only one of your stories left (I had more than 10 the last time I logged in, this last story of mine had '0 days' marked on it)

Jokes aside, I think the reason I stopped writing was cause I simply lost the inspiration I had for the first few. Like, I had quite a few ideas but didn't have the story to wrap around it.  
>I ended up spending my time reading. A LOT.<br>In this 2 months, I finished, from chapter 1 onwards (and am currently following if it hasn't completed), 2 shounen and 2 shoujo manga series, as well as 2 light novel series.  
>Because of this, I think my writing may be influenced by the ones that I had read recently. Which means that it would more likely flow with the shoujo theme cause that was what I have been reading lately. (Anyone doesn't know what shounen and shoujo mean? XD)<p>

Since this particular story came out a while back, and that the basic idea was already there, I started with this. Don't worry, once I get my senses back I'll start my marathon of oneshots again (No promises though XD)  
>It's longer than the rest of my chapters (Even without this incredibly long intro I thought it was long enough)<br>I have yet to really get into the story-writing mood yet so I can't really tell if this would live up to your expectations (not that anyone cares right? Not a single person reviewed this story yet...)

Well, after that super long intro, let's get to the main story!

Happy Reading!

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><p>Nami and Selena made their way to the small clothing stall in the town. As they walked there, Nami took the chance to check out the small town. It was a peaceful trading post, with only the enormous forest to show for an island in the new world, and there were hardly any pirates that came by so they were rather impartial to dealing with them. Not that it mattered considering that the Straw Hats still paid for their stuff anyway.<p>

Despite the small size of the stall, it had a wide variety of clothing available. Even better was the fact that the store was having a sale on some of their clothing. Something Nami would usually notice right away and jump at the opportunity to buy cheap clothing.

But then…

"Nami-san? We would probably look good in that, but I don't think we would actually agree to wear such a daring outfit…"

"O-Of course not! I was just looking around…"

…

"Er… Nami-san, that's the most expensive piece in the shop. Are you sure we're buying this?"

"Eh…it's alright once in a while isn't it? Besides, it's on sale, right?"

"Nami-san, the ones on sale are on that side…"

"Oh really…"

"…"

Selena watched as Nami continued to pick out clothing irregularly, before deciding to intervene.

"Nami-san, are you all right? You seem to be spacing out a lot."

"Hmm? No, I'm alright. Do I really seem that off?"

"Considering that Robin-san told me that you were supposed to be exceptionally good at handling money and that you have yet to realise that the sale section is over there, it is weird isn't it?"

"Oh…"

"Not forgetting that my sister sometimes terms you as a money-minded freak, but you are showing none of the characteristics of someone who takes care of her money. Half of the stack you're holding would cost the entire sale section."

"Erm…that's…"

"I think if you were your normal self, I would be making gold bars or the sort right now, won't I? So, what's wrong?"

"Er…"

Under the scrutiny of the new girl showing off her perceptiveness, Nami couldn't fight back. Selena took the chance to go in for the attack.

"It couldn't be because of a certain _captain,_ could it?"

"Eh? No, it has nothing to do with him! None at all!"

"So you're admitting that you were spacing out just now?"

"Eh…"

"So what it's about?"

"Erm… it's…"

"A special something? Or a special _someone_?"

"Eh? No! It has nothing to do with that stupid captain…"

"Nami-san, I never said it was him, you know…"

"Eh? No, I didn't mean anything like that!"

"Could it be… When my sister was cuddling our dear captain, were you… _jealous_?"

Nami, facing such a powerful adversary known as the teasing teenage girl, could only shriek in embarrassment.

And the old woman manager of the store could only shake her head, muttering "it's nice being young" as she watched the mini-drama unfold before her.

~O.O~

"It's been a while since we ran in a forest like this. Reminds me of Little Garden, except this one looks at least twice as large."

"There's also the one on Skypiea, but there were clouds below our feet that time."

"I wonder what sort of adventure we're going to have this time."

"Luffy, you really like adventure, don't you?"

"Well, let's just keep together; it looks like it'll be easy for us to get lost here… Zoro! Not that way!"

"What? I was just walking in front of you guys."

"You were going in the completely wrong direction! That way is back to the town!"

"Really? Are you sure you're not the one that's lost?"

"Don't bother, Chopper. That guy never seemed to notice that he doesn't have a sense of direction."

"Hmm…? Won't that be dangerous?"

"For him, we're more worried that he would need someone to get him when we're going to set sail."

"Don't worry, Hazel-san. This kind of thing would be so common that your eyes would soon treat them as a normal occurrence…"

"But I thought that you didn't have eyes? Eh, Brook? Why are you looking all down and depressed all of a sudden?"

"He's alright, just be careful not to steal his line next time."

"Oi, you guys, come on! There's still so much to explore!"

"Our captain seems as energetic as ever."

"I'm surprised he hasn't attempted to run around the whole island using Gear Second considering how bored he was on the ship."

And thus, the Straw Hat party continued their journey into the mysterious forest.

~O.O~

As the cook and shipwright walked into the marketplace of the small town, the stares of the locals were directed at the cyborg. Despite being an island in the new world, a cyborg like Franky was still something that you didn't see everyday. Or so the two of them thought, until one of the locals came up to them and asked, "Cyborg-san?"

"Call me Franky."

"Well, are you part of the government forces, or…"

"I'm a pirate."

"So, you're part of the pirates just docked? What are you guys here for?"

"We're just here to restock our supplies and after the Pose is set, we'll be going off."

The local man, seemingly satisfied with the answer, held out his hand, inviting either of the two to shake it. With Franky being incapable of doing so easily, Sanji did so.

"Hello, sorry for the questioning, but a couple months ago, some government agency was sending android parts around, so we were wondering if you were one of the specimens. I'm Danny, one of the leading figures in our small community. Welcome to Genoa."

A bit surprised by the sudden warm greeting, Sanji could only answer back, "Er… Thank you."

"You aren't scared of pirates?" Franky asked the question that was currently their biggest concern. They had thought that the locals merely couldn't tell the pirates from normal people.

"Well, we can't say that we're completely okay with it. But you all seemed like a nice crowd, so we weren't very concerned that you'll attempt to take over the village or something."

"Wait, how did you know that we just docked?" Sanji suddenly realised that the man had gotten that piece of info a bit too quickly.

"Ah, that…" Danny was cut off by a sudden shriek that came from somewhere else in town.

"That sounded like Nami-san! What was that?" Sanji was about to take off in the direction of the shriek when Danny stood in front of him to stop him.

"Wait," he said, before looking in the said direction for a moment and then coming back to look at Sanji. "Don't worry, apparently one of your crewmates was being teased by another. Nothing serious."

Either Sanji didn't believe him, or he simply didn't care, because he quickly took off in that direction anyway. Franky, however, was intrigued at that response and asked him, "What was that? That's not normal."

"Oh, that? That was telepathy. You've just come to an island where we don't even need to speak to convey our thoughts."

~O.O~

Robin was sifting through her extensive collection when she found the book she was looking for. It was a book that recorded some of the most legendary and powerful items in human mythology.

Its name: The Trilogy of Creation and the Weapons of the Gods.

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><p>Some notes:<br>-Selena addresses Nami and Robin with a -san at the back. This is to establish a bit of politeness in her speaking and also cause I couldn't write that in pure English. I mean, I didn't really want to write _Miss Nami_ instead. Same for Brook and Sanji cause that's how they usually speak and I didn't want to change it.  
>-Brook's depression was a reference to Chapter 604Episode 524 where Chopper steals Brook's line. This scene is more played out in the anime version.

So how was it? Leave a review if you're satisfied (or you can flame me if you don't like it?)  
>Really, I need the reviews (cause it helps to pick out the flaws in my stories and also to adjust the flow of my story if I'm dragging but I don't know it... Although to be honest I'm not expecting a review so if you really don't want to don't bother.)<p>

Thanks for Reading!


	5. The Hut

Hello again!

I wrote as fast as I possibly could and this was what turned out. Hope it lives up to whatever expectations you may or may not have of this fic. It is rather slow going, I admit, cause the story flow doesn't really allow me to just spam like the flow of a one-shot. I have yet to set the foundations properly, and there's also the issue of me not really knowing enough of their new powers to really write any action (the fishmen island arc really wasn't a solid base for me to stand on, they were basically just showing off, and the newer arc on the 'ice-and-lava' island isn't really complete enough to see their moves, so I can't get anything from that yet...), so you're stuck with this.

I'll probably have another chapter before I'll have to stop and look out for the manga for their new moves, but besides that there should be nothing stopping me so keep watching out for the next chapter!

Happy Reading!

Disclaimer: Unless they suddenly call me up and say that Oda-sensei has nominated me to start the continuation of the series or something of the sort, I won't have any rights to claim it. (One Piece doesn't belong to me!)

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><p>"Telepathy?" Franky couldn't keep the shock out of his eyes. It quickly cleaned up the incredibly fast information network that Danny had and also how he was able to ascertain the situation without being there…but that didn't mean it wasn't something impressive.<p>

"Yes, telepathy. We can communicate using our minds alone. Although it may not be such a convenient skill as you think… The look on your face suggests that you would like a detailed explanation, wouldn't you?" Franky quickly nodded his head, eager to find out more about this peculiar ability. Danny looked back into the direction that the cook had headed off to, then pointed over to a large house down the lane.

"I just informed the old lady at the store to direct your companion over to my house. I could probably explain it all to you here, but it would be better if we did so over a cup of tea, wouldn't we?" Franky, both being surprised by his hospitality and being impatient to find out more, accepted the offer almost immediately, and walked with Danny down the street.

~O.O~

Nami and Selena, in the meantime, were walking back to the Sunny with only a couple of bags of clothing. Selena was looking to start a conversation, but Nami's mood was scary as of that point so she was trying to find a way not to instigate her.

The reason for Nami's bad mood was simple: after being utterly pinned to a corner by Selena's words, the one that had to arrive right after was the love-cook. Unsurprisingly, he ended up being pummeled to the ground by Nami's slamming kick right to the back of his head. The reason for the few clothing was that immediately after that, Nami simply grabbed a bundle of clothing from the sale section, paid for it, and ran out of the store at lightning speed, with Selena chasing after her. Despite the fact that Nami had rushed that entire process, when Selena looked into the bags, she noticed that the clothing were rather good buys, cheap and of good quality too. Although there was _one_ that looked rather provocative (she made a mental note to avoid it at all costs), the rest were okay.

Selena observed Nami for a while more before trying to start a conversation.

"Ehh… Nami-san?"

"Huh? Yes?" Nami still seemed a bit moody, a bit dazed too, but she seemed okay enough for a conversation. Or so Selena's expression-reading analysis ascertained.

"So…you want to go anywhere else?"

"Hmm… I wonder if they have a cartography shop around here. It would save me the trouble of exploring if they have accurate maps here… Oh, I also need some more paper; I'm running out of stock. Do you want to go anywhere?"

_Phew… she seems back to normal… _Selena thought as she answered. "Erm… I don't think so? I'm not really interested in this island after all… Well, why don't we ask around if there is a cartography shop around?"

The two of them then looked around them. They seemed to be in an older part of the town, with the minimum age around here seemingly nearing 55. Hoping that the people around here hadn't lost their hearing, Selena stopped one of them.

"Does your town have a cartography shop?"

The old man looked to the old woman on the right, then to the old man in front of him, before nodding his head slowly.

"Hey, Nami-san, they have a cartography shop! Do you know where it is?"

The old man stared at her blankly for a while, before nodding his head slowly again, raising his hand to indicate them to follow him.

"Ehh, don't worry about it, we can get there on our own. You could just tell us how to get there."

The old man shot her a questioning look, before continuing to walk on.

Nami asked the old woman at the side and asked," He can't speak?"

To her surprise, the old woman also shot her a look. The old man, noticing that they weren't following him, sighed.

Then, the strangest of things happened.

All of a sudden, their minds were filled with an image of the town in their heads, along with a short commentary that was directing them through the town in a first person perspective. It lasted for about four seconds, before it faded away. The two of them then looked at each other, understanding instantaneously that it happened to both of them, and then looked for that old man. He had already disappeared into the crowd.

~O.O~

"Lost the ability to speak?"

Franky and Sanji were sitting in a rather elegant looking room; across the table was Danny, with a cup of tea in his hands.

"Yes, on a normal basis, most of the people in the town only master this ability when they hit 30. But, when they do so, it becomes almost so much easier just projecting their thoughts rather than speaking. You also get the message over way faster. So, by the time they hit 50 or 60, their vocal cords would have been rendered useless." Danny said this rather nonchalantly, while Sanji and Franky were utterly mind-blown.

"You don't look that old." That was the first thing Sanji thought of, and somewhere inside he was hoping that hadn't hit on a sore spot.

"Hmm? Well, you're right. I'm 21."

"Yet you can use it easily? Or is it that your standard of mastered is way higher than this…?"

"No, I have mastered it. I'm what you call a prodigy, I suppose? I'm part of the handful that isn't considered normal… I suppose I'm not supposed to be proud of that…"

"Not normal?"

Danny looked over to Franky, then to Sanji, and sipped his tea before speaking.

"Well, I suppose I should give you all a proper explanation of our powers… I think you can term them as such? What you term as telepathy is simply us projecting our thoughts to another person. Most of us need to be able to see the person to aim our thoughts or else we may miss. Some of us, like me, are capable of projecting our thoughts over further distances when we combine it with Kenbunshoku Haki. My conversation with the old lady at the store is a good example of that. Using thoughts over long range also gives the other person an easier time to pinpoint the position of the other, that's why the old lady doesn't need to know haki to direct her thoughts back at me."

Danny took a sip of tea before continuing.

"So, any questions?"

"Is it limited to the people of this island or is it a skill that we could actually learn?"

"Ah, from what I know it is a special ability that comes from a small part of our cerebral cortex…neither of you knows what that is, huh? Apparently, our brains are specially fine-tuned to be able to project our thoughts around, so I doubt that you could actually learn it."

"Do you have to be fine-tuned to receive the thoughts?"

"So you noticed? Yes, the reason I have to speak to you is because projecting thoughts to someone who has absolutely no experience of it whatsoever is extremely difficult. I have heard of some elders that are capable of such a feat, but as far as I know, only one or two of them have actually done it before. Those elders are held in high esteem, but they usually can't speak so that is what they do as a last resort."

"So if they actually project their thoughts to us, we're facing one of the 'village elders'?"

"Yes, exactly."

~O.O~

Following the instructions that were sent to their heads, Nami and Selena found themselves right in front of a cartography shop. The accuracy of the instructions that were sent to their heads was so good they were feeling chills down their spine. As they walked into the store, they saw that it was a rather up-to-date shop, with all sorts of high-tech equipment and accurate maps. Impressed with the things they were seeing, they put the strange experience to the back of their minds as they surveyed the shop.

As they pulled out some of the rolls of paper that were on sale, Selena decided to pop the question.

"So, Nami-san…"

"Hmm?"

"When did it happen?"

"What are you talking about? If it's about that thing just now, I have no idea…"

"No, not that…when did you…find out that you were…you know…with that captain…"

Nami's face paled first, before it turned red as she thought about it.

"Do you…really have to know…?"

"Tell me already!"

"Well…erm…"

"Hurry up already!"

In a situation almost similar to a junior talking to a senior (which in some way was true), Nami cringed in defeat and answered.

"You know, it wasn't really…that it started at some point. If anyone could say one point he impacted me the most it would almost obviously be the time he defeated Arlong…but this feeling was…different. It's more like…I grew to love him. The more time I spent around that idiot, the more he seemed…somewhat attractive…to the point where I would find myself staring at him from afar... And then, at times when we pass each other in a corridor, when we get too close I would start to blush…but when he goes further away, I'll look longingly at his back instead…"

Nami then realised that Selena was looking at her with a 'she looks so cute' look, which made her blush slightly.

"W-What is it?"

"Hmm…? Nothing…just thinking that you look rather cute while you were telling about it."

"!" Nami could feel her face heating up from that remark.

"So…" Nami didn't really like the look that the young crew member was giving her, and that was confirmed with the next sentence that she said.

"…when are you gonna confess?"

"What?" Shock could be considered an understatement to Nami's reaction. It also didn't help that her face was growing red just by thinking of it.

"Come on, with that captain being the blockhead that he is, it'll take him years to even find out that he has feelings for anyone, let alone find out your feelings for him…"

"B-But…"

"No 'but's! What could possibly be holding you back?"

"H-He still has his dreams and all that, you know? I can't just say something like that so suddenly that might cause him to detract from it…"

"Ho ho, Nami seems so confident that he'll detract from his dream for you, huh…?"

"Wait, NO! That's not it…"

"Then what is it, hmm…? Or maybe Nami's just too embarrassed to try…"

"That's…" Nami's face looked so red it seemed like it was about to burst, then she grabbed a few rolls of paper before dashing to the counter, paying for them and some maps at lightning speed and racing out of the store, with the new crew member smirking as she followed her.

~O.O~

Luffy was ahead of the rest (significantly ahead considering that they had to pull Zoro the right direction every few steps) when he noticed a small hut, in the middle of the forest.

The hut was normal looking by itself, with its black roof and log walls. It was the atmosphere around it that caught his eye. It seemed to be sucking the life out of the forest surrounding it. The plants within its vicinity were all withering; there was a small circle around it that was completely barren of any plant life. The forest animals all seemed to avoid it; even the tiger that went past took a wide detour around it. That was well enough for the captain interest to be sparked.

"Oi, Luffy, why'd you suddenly stop? Although it did help us catch up with you…" Usopp trailed off when he saw the scenery in front of him, before he dropped to the ground, shivering and shaking while muttering, "I think I got the I-can't-go-near-strange-houses-with-a-deadly-aura-around-it disease…"

"Usopp! What's wrong?"

"Ya, Usopp, it's just a hut."

Usopp popped up to face Luffy and said, "There's no way you would want to go to that hut!"

"Yeah, I want to." Luffy said nonchalantly, and Usopp in the background started pleading the rest that were there to stop him, which obviously was to no avail.

Hazel shivered slightly at the sight of the hut. Even though she had her own share of exploits across the ocean, she was still rather scared. She looked to the rest of the crew and wondered aloud, "How come you all seem to take it like it's normal?"

Zoro turned to her and answered, "When you follow that idiot of a captain who is too stupid to fear anything, you'll get used to it pretty quickly."

"Hmm…" Hazel then looked over to that captain (with Usopp and Chopper arguing with Zoro over the 'getting used to' part while Brook was watching the argument from the sidelines) before jumping on his back (again).

"Hey! Stop it!"

"Are you really going there?"

"Of course! There's definitely an adventure waiting for us there!"

"Heh… Say, Luffy…"

"Hmm…?"

"Do you have any preferences?"

"For what? If it's for meat, I like them as big as possible!"

"No, not that. How about girls?"

"Huh? I like girls, if you thought I was gay or something…"

"Any specific types? Like, do you like long hair or short hair? Or do you like the playing type or the reading type? Or maybe you would prefer them cute or sexy?"

"You mean they can't be both?" Somehow, of all the things the captain could respond to, he responded to _that_. That was pretty intriguing to the newly-joined crew member, so she continued on.

"You mean you've seen someone that could be both?" The captain nodded his head. "So, where is that person?"

"Why do you want to know that much?" Somehow, he felt that it was offensive (or maybe he finally realises the need for privacy?) and had not answered.

"Nah, nothing much. But does it have to be such a big secret?"

"Is it a big thing?"

"Well, if it's someone special to you, of course it's a big thing that you would like to keep secret, isn't it?"

"Someone special…" Luffy trailed off, but Hazel could have sworn that she saw a small grin at the edge of his mouth and that his cheeks were slightly flushed. She was denied her chance to confirm that suspicion, though, because Zoro suddenly called him and his head turned in their direction.

"So, are we going or what?" Zoro was dragging Usopp on the ground by his leg, while Brook looked as if he was hugging Chopper, but was actually lifting him above the ground so he couldn't escape. The captain smiled and then shouted, "Adventure!" before going towards the house, with Hazel on his back and four other crewmates behind him.

~O.O~

Robin looked out towards the town, with the book lying open on the table next to her. She looked once more towards the book, then back to the town in front of her. The archaeologist was rather desperate to relay some news, but with no one else on the ship, she couldn't just abandon Sunny like that. Some news about those crayons…

"I hope they're alright…" she couldn't help but mutter, waiting for someone to come back quickly…

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><p>So you like it? Hate it? Leave a review to show your satisfaction (or disatisfaction) of the chapter!<p>

This chapter was one of the fastest I have ever proof-read... Is it because I'm not doing this at 2 am? Or maybe it just feels like it after that extremely long one-shot I had to proof-read? (If you haven't checked it out, A Game Tonight...with a kiss? was posted about a week ago. That's how the title was supposed to look but the dots weren't registered so I was stuck with that. It's long though, so be warned!)

Give me some idea of what you expect the story to be like. Although I have essentially planned out everything from the start to the end, but I'm easily influenced so you might see your idea popping out somewhere. (It'll also tell me how to shock you altogether with twists in the story *sadistic smile*)

Thanks for Reading!


	6. Sakamoto

Hello everyone!

SOOOO sorry this took so long to come out, I don't think I can find a proper excuse to cover over my absence for so long, so let's just say I had problems.

Okay...minus the fact that I only recently got back into writing grove after having a HUGE writer's block for almost A FULL YEAR...

The touch is still not really back to me yet... That's why this one was kinda short...

I also need to re-watch One Piece...or at least, I think I do, or I'm gonna end up going Super-OOC without much effort...Too much random anime can do that to you...

Anyway, this would be the long awaited 6th chapter (almost 2 years since the last one OMG!) and its not even of decent length (I'm sorry again!).

Well, until I find that writing grove again, you all would most likely be stuck with this, so...

Happy Reading!

Disclaimer (I haven't done this in so long I nearly forgotten): One Piece, as you all should know, is drawn by a manga artist far away in Japan...Not me. (It belongs to Oda-sensei)

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><p>The front door was locked. Not that it was a big surprise, but it did prevent them from waltzing straight into the hut. And while Zoro forcibly restrained Luffy from punching the door ("We don't know what it's made of, you idiot!"), Brook pulled out his blade and cut a clean square around the lock. Pushing the door open revealed that the hut was practically devoid of any furniture besides the fireplace that was completely empty. Dark imprints on the floor suggested that there used to be some furniture, but it had been removed.<p>

The group walked into the hut without much caution. Chopper then said, "I thought something was weird."

Usopp, who was already being spooked by the dark imprints on the floor, timidly asked, "W-what's weird?"

Hazel answered, "This hut has no windows."

"It's as if the person that made the hut purposely didn't want anyone looking in, even by accident," added Chopper.

Luffy, who was still looking around for secret openings and treasure, spotted Brook at the doorway, frozen.

"Brook? Why you standing there like a statue?"

Brook continued to stand there for a moment, before suddenly his body was flung out of the door.

"Brook!" Zoro and Chopper dashed out the door to him, with Hazel and Usopp following just behind them.

"No, it's okay... At least I think I'm fine..."

"What happened?" Chopper frantically tried to check his vital signs before Usopp knocked him on the head for trying that on a skeleton; Hazel meanwhile tried to find out what happened to Brook.

"No, it was nothing, my soul was merely ejected from my body..."

"What?!" Hazel and Chopper screamed in disbelief. (Zoro and Usopp weren't as surprised.)

"I think maybe because I'm capable of ejecting my own soul out it's easier for my soul to be pulled away from my body. As soon as I went through that door, my soul was pulled away from my body. It took quite an effort to force both my soul and my body out the door, I tell you..."

"But Brook, we didn't see your soul. Not like the other time..."

"I don't know why, but that's what I felt happen anyway."

"What the hell is in that room..."

"Ermm, shouldn't we get that stupid captain out of there then...?"

"Luffy, get out here! There's nothing in there anyway, right?"

"Coming!" Luffy said reluctantly, but as he did so, he spotted something in the far corner of the room.

"What's this...?" he said to himself, as he picked up the small blue crystal of the floor...

~O.O~

"So, is there anything else that you all can do? Like maybe mind reading or the sort?" Sanji was already wondering it since they met, so he put the question straight to him.

"That's a bit beyond us already. At best we could pick up your aura maybe, or some of the elders can feel the general state of your consciousness... Basically, that means that those old guys can actually check someone's general state of mind if they try hard enough, like finding out if someone's being controlled or threatened; whether the person has murderous intentions or is putting on a sincere smile. Picking up anything within the inner state of your mind like your thoughts or memories are things we are incapable of intruding upon."

"So that's why you said we were a nice crowd..."

"A couple of our elders told me to go welcome a bunch of 'seriously cheerful' folk, I was expecting something closer to a travelling circus..."

"Ah...we might be graded as crazier than that, with that idiot of a captain..." Sanji gave a look to Franky, who simply winked as he responded.

"Crazy eh...sounds like me back in the day..." Danny gave a slight glance to the far wall before looking back at them. Intrigued, Franky also looked over and spotted a couple of photos hanging on that wall.

"Hey, is that...?"

Danny and Sanji look up to the wall, at the 2 photos hanging side by side. One showed a younger Danny(?) with a large group of boys around him. The other showed a slightly older version with a group of 5 old men around him.

"Yup, that's me. 13 and 15 years of age. The boys are a group of us that gathered together when we were younger. The older photo is me with the then 5 great elders. These old guys were the leaders of the town then."

"Then?" Sanji was curious to the fact that he used past tense with the old men.

"Nothing big, they were getting too old for the job, so they gave it to someone slightly younger." Danny answered simply, so both Franky and Sanji were satisfied with the answer.

"Then, what about the other photo?"

~O.O~

As soon as Luffy came out, the group pulled him far away from the hut and told him what happened. Even though it actually sparked more interest in him rather than dissuade him, they managed to prevent him from going back into the hut without reason. Now, they were walking off in a different direction to explore the forest even more.

Besides the place which they left behind, the forest seemed to be filled with greenery and wildlife. There were many animals roaming about, and the forest itself was filled with plants that seemed intriguing to the doctor. Chopper, picked a couple of plants, before his nose found a strange scent in the air.

"Er... Guys, do you smell that, or is it just me?"

"Hmm...what smell?"

"There's a weird smell, it's coming in that direction..."

"Shouldn't we like, avoid following that. We still don't know what was the deal with the hut..."

"A weird smell? Chopper, let's go! Show us the way!"

"You knew that that wasn't gonna stop him right?"

"Well, I had to try, didn't I?"

Chopper followed the scent, with the rest of the group following close behind. Soon, he and the group came through to a small clearing. it seemed the same as the rest of the forest, but that there were several animals staring at them.

"This is where the smell was coming from..." Chopper said.

"What are those animals doing?" Usopp wasn't particularly scared, but the way the animals were staring gave him a chill.

"Actually, rather than staring at us, doesn't it seem like they are frozen on the spot?" Hazel remarked.

The group came closer, then realised that she was right. The deer that was in front of them seemed to have been frozen solid even though there was no ice around. Luffy came up close to the deer, and suddenly the deer moved, as if it had been brought back to life, and sprinted away in a hurry. The group looked around and saw that the rest of the animals had followed suit, as if breaking free from a spell they ran away.

"What was that all about...?"

The rest of the group could only shrug as Luffy looked to the deer that was running in the distance. Brook, seeking to break the silence, said, "Shall we get some food? We've been out for a while."

"But you don't have a stomach, where does the food go? Ah, did I do it again?"

"Nah, it's okay, the skeleton should learn to get used to it too."

"My skull joke was stolen again!*Sob Sob*"

"Oi, don't weep over something like that, makes me wonder where the water that make your tears come from..."

"But he doesn't even have a body, how can there be water..."

"NOoo, not again!"

"Hazel, you should actually stop commenting on him."

"Erm... I'm sorry?"

"Skull Joke! Skull Joke!"

"Okay, okay let's go back and have some food, eh? I bet Robin is lonely waiting for us like that."

"Let's go, Brook, let's go... Hey, Luffy, let's go! Time for food!"

"Okay..." Luffy turned to follow the rest back to the ship, not noticing the clear blue crystal in his pocket suddenly shining...

~O.O~

Franky and Sanji both looked at each other, before realising that the question hadn't come from either of them. They looked over to Danny, who was looking in the direction of the doorway. The previously empty doorway now had another young man standing there. The two of them looked over to Danny, before looking over to him.

"What are you doing here..." Danny's face had changed, he wasn't smiling, and Sanji sensed something close to hostility seeping out of him.

"What, you mean I can't visit when I'm around the neighbourhood? It has been a while, after all. About 7 years or so...?" The visitor answered in casual fashion, as if he didn't notice that Danny didn't seem to want him to be here.

"You know what I mean Sakamoto, what are you doing here...?" Sanji was going to ask something, but Danny was making it very clear that he shouldn't interact with this person.

"Hmm, what? Are you angry at the fact I came out of my little hideaway in the forest? Even though you were the one that banished us out of the town, I always maintained my respect for our former leader, after all..."

"Former leader...?" The question came out of Sanji's mouth before he could stop it. Danny gave him a look that made him realise that the conversation was not going where Danny wanted it to, but regardless he opened his mouth to answer.

"He is in the other picture. The one right next to me." Franky looked up and saw that the boy he was talking about did bear a resemblance to the person standing before them. Dark blue eyes, red-tipped brown hair and a chain around his neck, just that the colour of the chain in the picture was silver while his was black.

"In that band of boys, I was considered the leader." Danny didn't elaborate, and Sanji could tell that he was not keen to share anymore.

"Hmm, you aren't gonna say anymore? Hey, I can tell them more, right?" Sakamoto, though, seemed very keen on sharing. Sanji was also starting to get curious and wanted his share of answers too. Danny didn't say anything, so Sakamoto just kept talking.

"Hey, if you're not gonna say anything, I'm going to you know? Like our old adventures, our band of brothers and our grand experiments..."

"Experiments?" Franky wasn't intending to cut in, but couldn't stop himself from blurting the word out. Sakamoto, as if waiting for the response, replied him.

"Yes, experiments. We were hailed as the prodigies, so well-developed in the art of telepathy at such a young age that we naturally came together. And as young kids with great ambitions, what did we do? We wanted to explore more into the realm of telepathy beyond what the elders could do. and who else was there to lead us but the genius of our troupe, the youngest one to ever attain mastery of telepathy..."

"That was before I found out what you were doing behind my back." Danny cut in, almost clearly wanting the converstion to end. His fist clenched at one side, Sanji could somewhat feel the anger seeping out of him. Uninterrupted, he continued on. "The experiments that I thought of were nothing close to what you all were doing."

"Well, it brought results, didn't they?"

"What's the use of cheating on an exam if all you get is results?"

"That's a cruel example. We did hurt a few people, that's all..."

"Mental torture to the point of insanity is not something you would get away with even if you did it on one person, let alone kidnapping over 7 people to do your experiments on!"

"But it was only from those that we managed to get our best findings..."

"What findings? The fact that you considered torture in the first place was one of the reasons you got banished from the village in the first place!"

"Banished...?" Sanji voiced out the word, but the ongoing argument continued regardless.

"We were just trying to find out how telepathy worked with more extreme conditions. And honestly, we squeezed out more than we thought..."

"And ripped their sanity clean from them in the process, didn't you? How else would the elders have reacted? Hell, banishing you to the forest was already a soft punishment!"

"But that was probably a good decision..."

"...What...?"

"I mean, you seriously thought that we were going to chill in that forest for the rest of our lives, you were way wrong..."

"Sakamoto, what do you mean by that..." Danny's tone was still laced with anger, but it was clear Danny had no idea what they had been doing in that forest.

"Did you know, animals also make for great guinea pigs... the forest is also filled with a lot of resources and queer plants too..."

"What exactly do you mean by that...?"

~O.O~

Nami and Selena, on the way back to Sunny, sharing some silence. Well, was more like Nami was kinda refusing to talk to Selena while Selena was just walking quietly behind her trying to keep herself from smirking. Something that was making Nami not just agitated, but all the more embarassed.

"Nami-san, you are completely red..."

"Shut up."

"Ehhh...Nami-san, where's you're usual tsundere-like response, maybe like a 'Stop talking about that!' or an attempt to cover my mouth..."

"Shut up."

Selena, realising that Nami was in no mood to talk, followed her back to Sunny, where they found Robin waiting. Before Nami could prevent Selena from poking any more fun at her, Robin came down off the ship. Robin walked past Nami without even acknowledging her red face, which made Selena hesitate long enough to realise that Robin's face was one of anger. And that she was looking at _her_.

"Yes...? Robin-san..."

"I found out."

"Oh, about what?"

"About the crayons."

"Oh...what about them...?"

"Did you really think you could hide it from me..."

Selena was thinking hard of a reply for that, but she never had the chance to say anything for at that moment...

An explosion rocked the entire island.

~O.O~

At that, Sakamoto looked up at Danny and said, "And _that_, is the signal."

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><p>So how was it? Love it, Hate it?<p>

Or is it a 'you're taking too long with this!'

Leave a review...or not, I don't really think it warrants a review...it's up to you...(Need to find out how bad my writing has become!)

(Anyway...)

Thanks for Reading!


	7. Nightmares

First things first, the ideas aren't flowing, so this is the only thing I have out so far. The next one would probably also be an update, but unless I get into any other type of writing flow this is prob all I can produce. No one-shots for now, sorry.

Prob not a very satisfying chap though, I ended up dumping in a lot of technical details...Sorry. Hope you guys like it anyhow.

Happy Reading!

Disclaimer: In episode 303 of One Piece, the singers for the opening (Tackey and Tsubasa, Crazy Rainbow) are animated and seen playing with the Straw Hats throughout the opening sequence. (Oops that's trivia not a disclaimer, One Piece doesn't belong to me!)

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><p>"Did you know? Our special ability is such that when we transmit thoughts to other people, the brain that receives it automatically clears space to put the thoughts there. But how does the brain recognise the thoughts? I mean, it's not as if another person's brain is supposed to recognise the images being sent from someone else's mind. Then, we found out something really intriguing. The animals in the area, when tested upon, were incapable of processing thoughts that they didn't know about, like the calm belt or the machines that they had never seen before. Then why does it not matter for us humans, then? The answer, apparently, lies in our unparalleled imagination. We, in our minds, can create things that could be based so loosely of something else but still be able to make it a solid thought. So how does that relate? Well, it explains, in some way, why a large-scale 'dream generating machine' could be created in the first place, and also how it works in creating the worst nightmares you could ever hope to imagine."<p>

And as Sakamoto said that, he slowly walked out the door, leaving a cook, a cyborg and a former leader writhing in pain, trapped in their own minds...

~O.O~

Nami couldn't understand what was happening. In a moment, there was an explosion that seemed to come from somewhere on the island, and then the next moment she felt her brain suddenly get assaulted be unseen brainwaves (not that she really knew how it should feel, she just felt that it was something like that). Then all of a sudden, she heard a voice in her mind, saying 'Hang on' before the mind waves reduced to something resembling a small headache.

Selena and Robin were still on the ground, tossing and turning all over the ground like they were seeing some bad dream. Nami tried rousing them but it was to no avail.

_Well, I guess I should go to the place where the explosion happened, at least it would be a start._

Nami walked down the path towards the town when she spotted another figure on the ground close by. She realised it was the old lady that she had seen at the elderly district in town. She was also lying on the ground, but looked just about to faint. Nami bent down and tried to carry her, but the old lady stopped her. Then, she looked straight into her eyes and started speaking telepathically.

_...Go back...to the village..._

"Eh? Are you speaking to me via telepathy?"

_...some of us can do it..._

"But wait, what do you mean by 'go back to the village? What about you?"

_...It's...too late..._

"What? What's too late?!"

_...Need to find...the elders..._

"Find the elders, uh-huh, okay, got it...How's that supposed to help?!"

_...Same place...you found me..._

"Wait, could you answer the questions I need answered? Like what's going on?!"

_...Find...them..._

"Oi, Obasan?! Oi?!"

The old lady lady passed out, before she started tossing and turning just as Robin and Selena had. Nami had no clue what to make out with it, but at least she knew where to go.

Time to find the elders.

~O.O~

Danny slowly raised himself off the floor. The huge migraine that was trying to invade his brain was really irritating, but it was better than seeing the worse that his mind could show him. And looking down at the floor below him, he felt lucky that his telepathic capabilities had managed to block out the brainwaves that were attacking. Once again checking if Sakamoto was around (using haki), he slowly made his way past the 2 squirming pirates that were on his floor.

_Sakamoto used the explosion to draw people's attention to the source, the activation was simply right after he caught the attention of the whole island. There's probably a high chance that the 'dream generator' is right where the explosion was._

Danny slowly made his way out of the door, looking around and making doubly sure that there was no one watching. It was way easier for Sakamoto to believe that he was caught up with this than to have to deal with him straight up. What's more, Sakamoto wasn't alone in this, so he had to make sure.

_I just hope that they hadn't gotten any smarter than the were when we were kids. Sakamoto is tough enough to outsmart, if they gotten any smarter, it'll be hard to even infiltrate..._

Inevitably, it had Danny thinking about his old adventures with the gang, when they were just a bunch of kids hanging out with each other and having fun. Then he remembered something.

_Wait...the dream generator was something I thought up of on a whim when someone asked me the point of researching our gifts. If the thing is based on the theories that we made up together those years back, then I may have something that could help..._

Ignoring the enormous headache that was attempting to hijack his brain, he walked out of his house.

~O.O~

Nami reached the elderly place. Passing by, she had noticed that all of the people on the island were in the same state as Selena and Robin. And apparently, the theme was 'nightmares', because some of the people were actually screaming and shouting. Anguish and devastation was all that she could see and hear. She cringed at the thought of what her nightmare could have been, before silently thanking the old woman and continuing on.

Nami realised then that she had reached the place, but she didn't know who to find. The old lady had told her to find the 'elders' but she had no idea who they were. She didn't recall meeting any of the elders... ...until she remembered.

_Maybe the old guy who gave me directions was an elder! That was some fearsome mind power after all. She did say a few of them, he could be the higher tier! But where can I find him..._

And almost as soon as the thought came to her, another vision was sent through her mind, just like the one the old man before had done. There wasn't a commentary, but it showed her the way from her current position to another place not far off. Nami set off, hoping she wouldn't forget the way.

Of course, her navigator instincts wouldn't let her get lost. In no time, she was standing before the house that had appeared in her mind. Ignoring the fact that it could be a trap or that it was too unreal to believe in the first place, she entered the house.

A single passageway awaited her. Walking through it, her eyes were drawn to the stairway at the back. There was a staircase leading up beside her, and another few rooms to the sides, but something in her mind was telling her to go down, as if someone was calling out to her. There were no lights that she could see, so she gingerly walked down, clutching her clima-tact as she did so.

All of a sudden, as if it was supposed to be like that, the wall above the opening for the stairs suddenly came down, sealing the opening like a trapdoor. Before Nami could pull out any move, the passageway before her lit up with dim lights. Gulping, she slowly walked down the passageway. Turning a couple of corners, she found herself in a small room filled with small vials.

_Quite the collection, isn't it?_

She then realised that she wasn't alone in the room. There were 4 old men at the end of the room, and like the old lady was just barely awake. She didn't know which one of them had spoken to her, but it was cleared up quickly when one of them waved his hand at her, before directing her attention at the vials.

_Shiori must have led you here, didn't she?_

Nami didn't know who the person was, but she was assuming the old lady was the person in question, so she nodded.

_Ah, if you didn't know that she was Shiori, you could have said so._

At that, Nami looked up in disbelief. Before she could finish any thought process though, the old man had spoken again.

_An aura of confusion followed by conviction would mean that you didn't know who Shiori was but assumed so, am I not wrong? I cannot read your mind, I'm afraid, but at least I can tell of your slight outlying emotions to get some small input on what you could be thinking._

Nami didn't really have a response to that, so she decided to ask about the situation rather than their powers. Though, before her thoughts could turn into words, the elder invaded her mind again.

_Want to know more about our situation, am I not wrong? Currently, a group of men that we had banished to the forest have come up with a device that could be termed as a mind invasion device. By terminology alone that would be impressive, but they apparently have only found out how to cause nightmares rather than blatant mind control, though that is frightening enough. For normal people like you all and most of the villagers, resistance is futile. For us elders though, we are relatively capable at psychic warfare, but the power of the machine the created is such that it is draining so much of our energy just to keep the devices effects from affecting us. Shiori probably thought of this before she transferred her psychic defences to you._

Nami, at that, blurted out an audible "What?" before she could stop herself. Not only did she know realise that the reason she was not on the ground deep within a dream was the old lady, but the fact she was more mobile than the elders she sees before her was also a bit beyond her comprehension.

_It's not that hard to understand. Shiori simply transferred her psychic defences in such a way that your current brain is capable of rejecting the invading mind waves by itself. A young brain, after all, has better grasp over the psychic capablilities if the skill level is the same between an old and young soul. Though this means that you have arguably the best defence against the current threat, you probably can't use any other psychic powers...This is not what you're here for, isn't it? Take a look there._

The old man gestured at the table filled with containers and vials. Nami took a glancing look and saw that there were a lot of liquid samples of something in them.

_Those, are liquid thoughts._

Nami blinked, before looking back at the old man, giving him a very questionable look.

_Not just any ordinary thoughts, I might add. Inside those vials are droplets of horror..._

~O.O~

Sakamoto walked into the room slowly. Like an artist admiring his work, he glanced upon the machine that was wreaking havoc throughout the island. It was like a dream come true. He had known of the power this device could possibly put out from the blueprints he and Danny had made when they were children. Though it was soon clear to the whole crew that they weren't thinking about the same thing even though they were trying to build the same device. Danny was kind-hearted and compassionate, and his designs and experiments were all themed towards making good dreams. He, on the other hand, wanted to create nightmares. And while Danny proudly showed his plans to the elders, he and his gang would carry out experiments in the shadows. He did not know how they were caught but the banishment worked out for them more than he could imagine. They could do experiments of every kind and all the materials they needed were more or less in the forest. Eventually leading up to this day where he could take control of the island...

"Sakamoto."

He was awoken from his little daydream by one of his men. He checked himself, making sure that the preparations were going on smoothly. He needed to make sure that his not-so-bright staff were not outsmarted by anyone who could potentially ruin his plans. He gestured at the person in question to respond.

"The elders have disappeared. Besides Great Elder Shiori who was spotted near the pirate ship, the rest have not been found. The old lady has apparently already succumbed to the devices effects."

Sakamoto raised his eyebrows. Something was not right. He had expected the elders to go missing, but the news that one of them had not only been found, but had been neutralised, was not, in any case good news.

"Take her to the back cages. Don't take any chances with any of them that you may find."

"Okay." As he left, another one came into the room. Sakamoto didn't even say anything, he simply nodded his head towards him.

"Danny has escaped the control of the device. His house was searched a couple of minutes ago, we still have a couple of people over there. Any orders?"

"Go grab the 2 straw hats that are in the house. They would at least be useful in a hostage scenario. Also, go to the pirate ship and grab every person on board. Search the forest too. I don't want any party crashers. 11 pirates in the back cages. No less."

"Yes, oh and Sakamoto?"

"What?"

"Ruddy is also in the back cages. He never found it."

"Let's just hope no one else does."

~O.O~

Nami gingerly picked up one of the vials and looked closely at it. She couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, but she could feel some sinister aura coming out of it.

_Your brain can sense it, am I right? That is a liquified thought that was collected by the banished group from their torture experiments. All their stuff, confiscated and hidden in this place._

As Nami continued to survey the vial, she soon felt as though she could hear screaming coming from inside...

_Don't hold it for too long or you may end up absorbing the thought. Those thoughts aren't pleasant enough to warrant that sort of treatment._

At that, Nami quickly put it back on the table. The faint sound of screaming and yells of anguish echoed away in her mind as she struggled to understand what she was experiencing.

_Eerie, isn't it? That's a black mark in our town's history. Not that anyone else had never tried, but we had always managed to keep the troublemakers from going out of control. Then here came the 2 geniuses of their generation. Danny was a good boy, but Sakamoto was...he just had a bad aura around him ever since he was a kid. And with Sakamoto feeding of that Danny's greater ideas, he eventually managed to rally some of the village children along with his grand schemes. He was prepared to cause a revolution, I would expect, had Danny not caught onto one of their kidnapping and torture schemes they were doing behind his back and exposed them to us._

At the mention of kidnap and torture, Nami looked back at the vials and gulped. Now she was _really_ happy she put it down.

_But we made a bad decision. Danny had expected that they would be arrested or at least be taken care of, off the island. Instead, we banished them from the town into the forest beyond our borders. Our concern was that the marines would draw their knowledge of our telepathic skills and end up coming back to us for experiments and the sort. Not once did it cross our minds that they were continuing to experiment even without much knowledge of the forest. And now they have even created a nightmare machine...sorry, my blabber is keeping me away from the main thing at hand..._

At that instant, Nami suddenly felt her headache suddenly getting worse, to the point where she could actually feel something attacking her mind...and slowly diminish yet again. She grabbed her head, before looking back to the floor, at the elder that was speaking to her.

_Shiori's protection ran out, didn't it? Keiichi and Takeda are out now,but their protection would last only so long. Come closer. Shintaro and I will add on the finishing touches._

Nami walked closer to the old man, where she could feel the remainder of her headache slowly dissipate. Then he started talking again.

_At best, we can only buy you so much time, a couple hours at best. You'll need to destroy that thing by then..._

Nami, suddenly realising that she had no idea where the thing is, nearly spoke out before one more line came through her mind.

_Find Danny, he's probably the only one who can find it..._

And with that, the old man slumped onto the wall, before the nightmares took him away...

* * *

><p>I'm still trying to get the writing flow, ideas for other stories just coming and going faster than I can grasp... I miss my old one-shot flow...<p>

A lot of info in this one, making it a rather boring read I think... I'm Sorry.

How long can I stretch this arc, hmmmm...

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Thanks for Reading!


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